Safe attachment



{No Model.)

A. OBERNDORP, Jr.

SAFE ATTAGHMENT.

Patented June 23, 1896.

i Mi

HIHHHHIIWIII I H Ill ANDREW EGRAHAMJHDTD-UTHO WASKINGYOILDC UNITEDSTATES PATENT SAFE ATTACHM ENT.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 562,737, dated June 23,1896.

Application filed October 23, 1895.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ABRAHAM OBERNDORF, J r. of Centralia, in the countyof Nem aha and State of Kansas, have invented a new and use fulImprovement in Burglar-Proof Attachments for Safes, &;c., of which thefollowing is a specification.

The object of my invention is to provide a device, in the nature ofaportable attachment, which, when placed in a safe, vault, or strongroom, will, in the event of an attempt by burglars to blow open thesame, cause the generation of a stiliing and poisonous gas which willmake it impossible for the burglar to live in the atmosphere of thesame, and thus preclude him from making away with the booty.

The invention consists in the construction .and arrangement of suchportable device,

which may behung up or detachably fixed in any safe or vault already inuse, and without regard to the construction of the same, and whichdevice serves to utilize the concussion to set oif or release atrigger-and-hammer mechanism that in turn breaks the bottle or bottlesor tubes containing the reagents from which the deadly gas is evolved,as hereinafter more fully described with reference to the drawings, inwhich- Figure 1 is an inside face view of the device partly broken away.Fig. 2 is a sectional edge view taken on the line 2 2 and looking in thedirection of the arrow, and Fig. 3 is a detail.

In the drawings, A represents the frame plate, which is designed to behung up or detachably fastened within. the safe or vault, for whichpurpose a ring or loop A may be used, or screws passing through holes amay be employed. On this plate is attached a marginal inclosing flangeB, which, with a detachable grating B over its open side, forms ahousing for a pneumatic trigger C. This pneumatic trigger is in thenature of a fan-blade, corresponding in shape to the upper part of thehousing and lying within the same immediately behind the grating B,being sustained upon a pivotal axis at c c and held to the frontparallel with the grating by a fiat spring C, behind it. To thefan-blade of this trigger is rigidly attached an arm I), extending downinto a chamber B and resting immediately above the end c of atripping-lever E. This Serial No. 566,588. (No model.)

lever is fulcrumed to the case at e and has two hooks L L, that areadapted to receive the links or hooks N, connected to the ham mers K.These hammers are fulcrumed at 7; to a cage J and are actuated bysprings K. This cage is composed of parallel rods j, connected andsupported at their ends by plates Z and m. The plate Z is provided withone or more cartrid ge-cham bers Z, ad aptod. to receive metalball-cartridges Z which rest immediately beneath the points of thehammers, and which hammers when they fall thereupon explode thecartridges and drive the bullets into the glass tube, bottle, orreceptacle 1 for the liquid or liquids or other substance that generatethe gas. These bottles or tubes are inserted into the cage throughopenings in in the plate m and are retained therein by a pivoted plate m(see Fig. 3,) which may be turned aside, as shown in dotted lines inFig. 1, to admit the bottles, or be turned. over the opening, so as toretain them in the cage.

S is a detachable safety-bolt which is adapted to enter a screwthreadedor plain socket in the frame-plate and occupy a position beneath thehammers, so that the latter cannot fall upon the cartridges. Thissafety-bolt is inserted during the hours of business when the safe isopen, so that the cartridges cannot he accidentally exploded by those 1e gitini ately using the safe. Then the safe is closed for the night,this safety-bolt is removed.

The operation of my invention is as follows: Assuming that the safe orvault has been closed for the night, and the device is set up therein inoperative position, if any attempt to blow open the safe is perpetrated,the concussion of the blast operating upon the fan of the pneumatictrigger O deflects the latter on its pivots c 0 against the spring Daway from the end 6 of lever E, as shown in dotted lines in Fig. 2, andas this is all that holds the hammers against the tension of the springsK, the latter force the hammers down upon its cartridges with anexploding blow, and the cartridges are made to drive their bullets intothe glass bottles, crashing them, spilling or mixing and scatteringtheir contents, and allowing the poisonous gas to be generated and tofill the safe or vault, so that a continuation of his operations wouldmean death or insensibility to the burglar.

I do not confine myself to any particular reagent or reagents forgenerating or evolving the gas. It might bemade by an admixture of thecontents of the two bottles, or a single volatile substance or ananesthetic, like chloroform or ether, might be used. I furthermore donot confine myself to the cartridgesor eX- plosivc shells as a mediumfor breaking the bottle orbottles, as it is obvious that the tooth orspur of the hammer might be made to fracture the glass bottle by directimpact thereagainst.

The grating placed in front of the pneumatic trigger is not absolutelyessential to my invention, but is very desirable as an additionalsafeguard to prevent an accidental touch against the trigger fromprematurely setting oi'l' the device when the safe is open and inlegitimate use by its owners.

lVith the above-described device it is practical to so fill the safe,vault, or strong room with a poisonous gas, which shall pervade theplace for so long a time as to utterly frustrate a continuance of theburglary, and prevent the loss of the valuable contents of the safe.

The device is very simple and practical, and is so universal in itsapplication as to permit it to be applied to any safe, vault, or strongroom already in use, no matter what its construction is, and herein liesa great point of advantage over other devices operating upon thisgeneral principle, which require to be built in with and made a part ofthe construct-ion of the safe or vault.

I Iaving thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire tosecure by Letters Patent, is

1. A lmrglawprool' attaclnnentforsafes the. comprising a receptaclecontaining material for evolving a noxious gas, and a fracturingapparatus for the same arranged to be set into action by concussionsubstantially as shown and described.

2. A burglar-proof attachment for safes be. comprising a receptaclecontaining material for evolving a noxious gas, a fracturing apparatusfor the same, and a pneumatic trigger for setting off the fracturingapparatus by the concussion of the blast substantially as shown anddescribed.

3. A burglar-proof attachment for safes &c. comprising a frangiblereceptacle containing material for evolving a noxious gas, a fracturingapparatus consisting of a bullet-laden shell, an exploding-hammer forthe same. springs for actuating the hammer, and a pneumatic trigger forreleasing said hammer by concussion substantially as shown anddescribed.

4. Almrglar-proof attachment for safes rte. comprising a receptaclecontaining material for evolving a noxious gas, a fracturing apparatusfor the same, a pneumatic trigger for setting oflf the fracturingapparatus by concussion, and a grated. guard placed over the pneumatictrigger to prevent accidental throwing of the same substantially asshown and described.

5. Aburglar-proof attachment for safes &c. comprising a receptacle forcontaining material for evolving a noxious gas, a fracturing apparatusfor the same, consisting of springhammer, and adjustable locking devicefor positively locking the hammer, and a pneumatic trigger for settingoil? the hammer by concussion substantially as shown and described.

(5. The combination of pneumatic trigger (I with arm D, locking-lever E,hammer K with loops adapted to be fastened to the lever. spring K foractuating the hammers, a cage J with adjustable door, and a frangiblereceptacle placed in the cage and adapted to be broken by the hammerssubstantially as shown and described.

ABRAHAM OBERND ORE, JR.

lVitnesses:

F. P. BOWEN, Gno. A. MCNEIL.

